Pandora's Shinigami
by StrawberryDeathGod15
Summary: Legends of the Vault speak of many great treasures, but Pandora sure wasn't ready for a mysterious shopkeeper and his apprentice. (two characters from Attack on Titan will be in this)
1. Meeting on the Bus

**PROLOGUE/CHAPTER ONE**

Meeting on the Bus

Hope you all enjoy the first chapter of my new story.

 **XXXXX**

So… You want to hear a story, eh? One about treasure hunters?

Haha, have I got a story for you!

Pandora… This is our home. But make no mistake – this is not a planet of peace and love.

They say it's a wasteland; that it's dangerous; that only a fool would search for something of value here.

Then perhaps I am a fool. But do not be fooled by what Pandora appears to be.

There was a legend… Many people tell it. The legend of the Vault. My father would always go on about the Vault; even with his dying breath.

Advanced alien technology. Infinite wealth. Fame. Power. Women.

So you can understand why some little kiddos who hear the stories grow up to become Vault hunters.

Well, I have a story you may not believe. But I tell you it is true.

The legend of the Vault is real! And it is here on Pandora.

And a… let's call her a 'guardian angel,' appeared to guide the Vault hunters to their prize.

The tale begins right here on Pandora, with the brave Vault hunters, the guardian angel, a guy with natural orange hair with his apprentice and most importantly, me…

 **XXXXX**

 **Never give Insanity physical form**

 **XXXXX**

On a dusty road during the midday of Pandora, we see a rusty bus with some boarded windows and a loot chest on top driving along, going not too fast but not too slow.

Whoops! Looks like it just hit a Skag. The poor thing most definitively did not deserve it. Oh, who am I kidding; this is Pandora it doesn't matter.

The driver of the bus was the one and only Marcus of Marcus Munitions. remember kids, no refunds.

Looking in his mirror, Marcus saw the uniqueness of his six passengers.

"Well, you all seem like an interesting group of crazies." He took a moment to think of what to say next. "Tell you what; I'll give a twenty-five percent discount to the one that gives the best introduction."

Anyone that knew Marcus would have probably had a heart attack after hearing him say that, but since the passengers didn't know Marcus at all, they didn't have to worry about an early death. Instead the four Vault Hunters and one of the other two passengers looked intrigued and so decided to try for the discount.

The first to stand up was a woman with flaming red hair, stepping forward her body changed to a strange purple see-through glow that after a couple of seconds went away and took a bit of a pose, blowing a kiss towards Marcus. Not because she was interested in him, because she wasn't, she just wanted the discount.

"Name's Lilith and I'm a Siren."

"I guess that means that there are five more out there like you.

The next was a man with a mask covering his whole head who draws his machete-like blade and spins it around acrobatically.

"I guess you could call me Mordecai. But most know me as 'Hunter', and this is my girl Bloodwing." He finishes before gesturing towards the strange bird-creature sitting on his shoulder.

"SQUAWK!"

"Cute," was Marcus' reply.

As most of the buses occupants looked towards the passenger, they saw that he was a dark skinned man who wore bits of the Crimson Raiders gear. He raised his arm to cover his face

"Roland," was all he said.

Marcus looked bored. "Soldier boy, eh? Guess with an introduction like that you don't get the discount."

The largest man on the bus stood up in the back, cracked his neck and then slammed a fist into his open palm exclaiming, "I'M BRICK AND I'M MYSELF!"

"Well aren't you intimidating. But too bad for you Ms Siren and 'Hunter' are in the lead. I hope the last two do be-" was all Marcus could say before a loud shot of gunfire sounded in the vehicle.

All eyes turned towards the only other female on the bus, surprised to see someone who only looked to be in their late teens holding some strange contraption with smoke coming out of a long barrel. They realised that the thing must have been a gun.

It was a unique weapon with a block-like look to it. Instead of it being curved all over, it had corners, the sight looked like a thin piece of steel was bent into the shape of a square and was sat on top of the gun. The strangest thing about the unique weapon was that instead of a grip and trigger, the girl seemed to just push her fingers into the side of it.

They watched as the bone-white coloured weapon turned back into a block of metal. She raised her hand and pointed out the window with her thumb.

"You're welcome." Was all she stated.

They all looked where she was pointing and saw the burning remains of a bandit technical.

The girl stood up showing that she was the shortest person on the bus, wearing a pair of black pants, black combat boots, a white button-up T-shirt and over that a brown jacket that only reaches just above her waist. Blowing a stand of her brown hair out of her face, she kept all emotion out of her face. "By the way, the names Mikasa."

Marcus chuckled and told them, "Looks like we have a winner."

Brick looked confused for a moment before asking, "What about him?"

Everyone else looked towards the final passenger, noticing that he wasn't even awake. Light snoring was heard before Mikasa leaned in close to him before smacking him hard over the head with her weapon.

"Huh, wha- uhm, who are you again?" he slurred out drunkenly.

Mikasa smacked him again, "Wake up dumbass. If you give an impressive introduction you get a twenty-five percent discount from his stores." She told him keeping an emotionless look on her face while pointing towards Marcus.

"Ahm… sure, just give me a moment." Opening the window he leaned out and everyone heard retching sounds as the man threw up.

Mordecai looked at Mikasa, "So, you know that guy?"

"Yeah, his name's Ichi-" she wasn't able to finish telling them who he was, as at that moment the man who was previously hanging halfway out the bus had returned to his seat shouting in joy while holding up a Skag Pup.

"YAY! I'm gonna call you Chad… or Sado… nah, definitely Chad." Standing up and sitting the newly named Chad on his seat, he walked towards the front of the bus where there was the most room.

Spinning on the heel of his foot dramatically to face them, the man took off his bucket hat off his bright-orange hair and rested it on his chest as he bowed before proclaiming, "Good evening young boys and girls, I am mainly known as the owner of the Kurosaki Shoten. But you kiddies can call me Ichigo!"

The man wore a strange outfit. On his feet were wooden sandals, black pants of a thin material that reached down just above his ankles, a pure white shirt that has to be tied around the waist to keep it closed, with sleeves that only just reach past his elbows. Over his shirt he wore a coat that was an even darker shade of black then his pants which reached the back of his knees and has white diamond shapes along the bottom. On his head he wears a bucket hat with black and white stripes and on the top of it is a white skull with corners instead of curves having two white stripes crossing each other underneath. **(It's pretty much how Urahara looks but with Ichigos' substitute Shinigami badge symbol on top of the hat)**

Putting his bucket hat back on his head, shadowing his eyes, Ichigo gave a predatory smirk before saying, "I'm sure we're going to have a terrifyingly wonderful adventure together."

 **XXXXX**

In the darkness, two beings of immense power were arguing.

 **What should we do if they find out?**

 _Nothing._

 **Nothing!?**

 _Yes, nothing._

 **What the fuck!**

 _Listen, this is not our decision to make. It is all up to him._

 **And what if he doesn't make a decision you like?**

 _Then I would force him to see things my way._

As the beings start to disappear deeper into the darkness, one of them mumbles under his breath too quiet for the other to hear.

 **Fuckin' hypocrite.**

 **EXTRA**

"Well, it would seem old Marcus here's gonna have ta go with Ms Kasa.

"It's Mikasa, but anyway I have a better deal for you."

"I'm listening."

"Give it to me and I'll only take a twenty-percent discount."

"DEAL!"

"...That was fast."

'Damn cheapskate.'

 **XXXXX**

[A.N.]

Ok, so I know that it's taken forever for me to update anything of mine. Especially my story True Power. Sorry for those who wanted the next chapter. A lot of stuff has happened, like no longer having a computer to use and a lot of personal stuff.

 **Explanation:**

Mikasa\- yes this is Mikasa Ackerman from Attack on Titan. Haven't watched or read the anime/manga, only read fanfiction of it. The ones that I read were crossovers with other stories and the only pairing that I read of it was Mikasa x Annie, so I will have Annie show up and that is who she will be with.

Mikasa's weapon\- if you're having trouble imagining it, think of a rectangular prism made of silver coloured steel. On one of the smaller sides is where a metre long barrel slides out. Her fingers slide into anywhere on the side and all she has to do is pull back her index finger to fire it.

The appearance of Ichigo\- just look up Urahara and find an image of his entire body. It's practically the same, just with a colour scheme.

The characters appearance\- all characters look exactly how they looked in the first game.

Character weapons-

Ichigo- ?

Mikasa- her rifle and two blades at her hips (the Attack on Titan blades, but much stronger)

Roland- assault rifle, smg, field turret

Mordecai- sniper rifle, handgun, Bloodwing

Brick- rpg, shotgun, his fists

Lilith- elemental weapons, Phasewalk

Pairings

Ichigo x ? (multiple or only one, give some suggestions)

Mikasa x Annie

Slight Lilith x Roland in first and pre-sequel

Lilith x Maya (best Borderlands fanfic I read was one with this pairing) Maya's Story: Past, Passion, Purpose - good read

Mordecai x ?

Brick is awesome by himself… for now

Gaige x Scarlett (don't ask)

Zero x Tannis

Axton x ?

Salvador x Ellie (won't focus much on this)

Athena x Janey

Winston will die

Cl4p-Tp (Clap Trap) x no one

If you want to suggest any other pairings please do.

Like my other story I have no intention of not finishing them. It's just that the bleach manga is bringing out new things almost every chapter now. Can't wait for the next chapter so that Ichigo's new Bankai gets shown.

This chapter is only short as with Borderlands being a game I have to play and watch YouTube to make sure that I don't miss anything, so that means that it will take much longer to update. Hopefully not two years. Soz :-P

One last thing, with how many characters being in the same area, I'm thinking it would be best to do first person views in those moments. What do you guys think.

Also poll on my profile for single or multiple pairing for Ichigo.

Any other questions, either PM or ask in the reviews.

Hope you enjoy.


	2. Claptrap and Dr Zed

**Chapter 2**

Clap Trap and Dr Zed

 **XXXXX**

"Next stop: Fyrestone Depot. Time to gather up your stuff! Who's getting' off the bus?" Marcus called back to his passengers.

" _ **Don't be alarmed. I need you to stay calm and don't let on that someone is talking to you. Start making your way off the bus. You don't have any reason to trust me, but I need you to believe that I'm here to guide you – I'm here to help you find the Vault. In a moment, you'll be greeted by a funny little robot. Do everything he says. You'll know what I mean when it happens. I'll contact you again soon."**_

The Vault hunters were surprised when a voice suddenly spoke to them, but decided to keep quiet when she mentioned the Vault.

Unknown to them, Ichigo and Mikasa were watching them suspiciously with narrowed eyes, though both were thinking different things.

'Who is talking to them?" was what Mikasa was thinking.

Ichigo's thoughts were somewhere else. 'What are you doing Angel? I thought I'd told your father to keep you out of anything that had to do with Vaults.'

As the bus stopped, the Vault Hunters slowly got off the bus, leaving only Marcus, Ichigo, Mikasa and Chad the Skag pup. Rising from his chair, Ichigo walked towards the front of the bus, stopping next to the driver. He leaned forward until his mouth was right next to his ear and spoke softly.

"Make sure to update me on anything they do or what they buy from you when I'm not with them, understood?" The coldness in Ichigo's voice made Marcus sweat quite heavily in fear of this man.

Gulping, Marcus replied with a, "Yes sir, whatever you say."

The cold look on Ichigo's face quickly changed to carefree smile as he turned and exited the bus, followed by Mikasa carrying her weapon like a case, while holding the newly named Chad in the other arm.

Marcus quickly shut the door and drove the bus as quickly as possible out of there.

"What the hell was that guy?" he questioned himself before feeling the temperature in the bus dropped as a voice called from the back.

" **What he is… is none of your business. So make sure you don't do anything stupid."**

Marcus slammed on the brakes so hard the he hit his head on the steering wheel.

"Oww, FUCK ME!" he exclaimed in pain, rubbing his forehead to give it some relief before turning around to search for the voice.

"So, he doesn't want me to look into his friend. Fine I won't. But he never said something about getting someone else. I'll give Moxxi a call and tell her to keep an ear out for information."

Turning back to the front, Marcus started to drive off, hitting another Skag on the way.

 **XXXXX**

Ichigo watched as the bus drove off before turning around to see the Vault Hunters watching a little robot wave towards the bus, calling, "See ya next time," before giving a few rude gestures. He turned towards the group before rolling in front of them.

'A CL4P-TP huh? Wasn't expecting to see one of those to still be around. I thought that they were decommissioned after the incident of '77.'

"Welcome to Fyrestone! I am CL4P-TP; you may call me by my locally designated name, 'Claptrap'. Before continuing, please accept this ECHO communication device and heads up display provided free of charge by the Dahl Corporation!"

He brought out four little hand sized machines that must have been the ECHO devices before handing each one to the Vault Hunters. When he turned towards the last three, he realised that he didn't have any more.

"Apologies humans. It would seem the Dahl Corporation had not given me enough ECHO communication devices."

"That's okay, I don't need one anyway. And you don't have to worry about Mikasa there, she has her own ECHO." Ichigo told the robot before leaning down to get a closer look at it before standing straight again with a smirk on his face. 'Hmm, it would seem there's more to you than meets the eye, isn't there?'

As Claptrap turned back towards the others, Ichigo took Chad out of Mikasa's hold and started to stroke his back, resulting in the Skag pup purring.

'So skags can purr, eh? Nice.' He turned to watch the interaction between the Vault Hunters and the robot.

"Great! I detect that your Echo device is fully functioning! Now, I think it's best that I explain what your ECHO device is capable of. Your ECHO device has a health display module and a weapon display module. It has a digital bearing module, which will simply show you a compass. Your ECHO device is also capable of carrying a specific number of items as well as being a communication device, hence its name. There is also an experience point module that as it levels up will give you boosts. It is unknown how that part was made but I'm sure it's not going to be some surprising plot twist which results in someone's death."

Everyone but Ichigo, who had Chad on his back and was scratching his belly, was looking at the robot weirdly. Mikasa looked towards Ichigo and the Skag pup before sighing. 'Dumbass.'

"Okay! This way please." Claptrap turns to lead them away but before that could happen he ran straight into Ichigo, which had everyone confused as they had all seen him rolling around with the somehow tamed Skag.

Ichigo leaned down and patted the robot on the head before speaking, "Hang on little guy. Why don't you let our new friends check the depot for weapons and loot before you give them the tour, especially since it would seem they left all their weapons on the bus… which is long gone by now."

At this Ichigo gave them all a deadpanned look, as they all checked to find that what the man said was true before having sheepish looks on their faces. They were essentially weaponless, not counting their specials, which Ichigo decided right then were pretty unique and had garnered his interest.

'A Siren with a power to phase, a hunter with a creature that looks to have great potential, a soldier with a turret and by the looks of it, it has a shield and precision Mk 5 auto aim. He must be very good with it as he would have to designate what not to shoot and priority targets, impressive. Last but not least a guy with a lot of bloodlust, hiding under his skin. He's pretty much Kenpachi, if you convert his crazy to stupid.'

Ichigo turned and started to make small talk with the robot, with Chad running around in circles chasing his tail while Mikasa followed the Vault Hunters as they entered the depot.

Through the search, they had opened a couple of safes, giving them a total of $157. Opening a red loot crate rewarded the hunters with a Vladof assault rifle, which was handed to Roland, a Maliwan fire elemental handgun, which was claimed by Lilith, a Torgue shotgun, which was snatched right out of Mordecai's hands by Brick.

"I call dibs on this one." He exclaimed holding it up.

Mordecai looked disappointed as he realised that there were no more weapons. "Ah man, looks like I'll just have to rely on my machete and you girl." He spoke to his bird, Bloodwing.

"I found this one in another chest on the roof."

The sudden appearance of Mikasa startled them all as all they could see of her was the top part of her body hanging from the top of the doorway.

Lilith looked impressed. "Well aren't you a sneaky thing."

Mikasa handed Mordecai a Jakobs sniper rifle, receiving a thank you from him.

As the Vault Hunters checked their ammo and the condition of the weapons, Mikasa started to make her way out but was stopped by Roland's voice.

"You don't want any of the loot?"

At his question, Mikasa turned around and showed them her weapon. "This is all I need."

"What about money?"

Mikasa raised an eyebrow before jabbing a thumb in the direction of Ichigo, who from what they could see was eating popcorn while watching his new Skag pup chase Claptrap in circles.

"You might not have realised it but he did say he was a shopkeeper. You might not have also realised that the Kurosaki Shoten is a very popular shop throughout the galaxy and he has amassed a lot of money. I'm also his assistant, so I don't have to worry about money."

"Ah… well that makes sense, I guess." Mordecai spoke.

Mikasa was going to walk away before a thought crossed her mind.

"Do you guys know what brands specialise in what?" she asked.

"No/Nope/Nu uh/Yes!" were the answers of the Hunters.

"Really!? I didn't think you would have known Brick. So what does Torgue specialise in?" Mikasa asked with a suspicious look on her face.

"It… ur… goes bam?" Brick ended up asking nervously.

"You don't know, do you Brick" Lilith asked.

"No" Brick spoke with a soft and sad voice.

"It's all right Brick. But so you all know, Lilith, yours is made by Maliwan. They only make elemental weapons and seeing as that is your preferred type of weapon, I suggest that you only buy them. Roland, yours is made by Vladof. They specialise in giving their weapons a faster firing rate. Mordecai, yours is a Jakobs weapon. The weapon may not hold much ammo, but it's good for quick-firing. You never know when an enemy needs more shots to take down, especially if you need to get multiple head-shots."

Turning towards Brick, who still had his head down, she placed her hand on his forearm in a comforting gesture, "And your Torgue weapon deals explosive damage. The founder of Torgue, Mr Torgue, loves explosions."

As the Vault Hunters digested the information that they were given, Mikasa started walking back to her friend and mentor, shaking her head at his antics. It had appeared that he had somehow joined the chase, chasing after Chad as he had stolen his popcorn.

"Hmph, idiot."

 **XXXXX**

"What do you guys think of those two?" Lilith asked the others.

"She's definitely been a soldier before." Roland spoke.

Mordecai looked at the soldier before asking, "And how do you know that?"

Before Roland could answer, a beautiful woman's face showed up in front of their eyes in a small box, luckily not covering most of their view.

" **It would be for the best to trust them."**

"And why should we do that?" Mordecai asked suspiciously.

" **Ichigo Kurosaki is the man that made the ECHO devices you have and payed out of his own money to get them provided to just about everyone. He would also be a good ally, as you can see he can survive on Pandora without a gun."**

"Anything else?"

" **If you run out of money, he'd pay for you. Looking at his account, I'd say that is highly likely. He… also likes drinking… a lot. Just occasionally buy him a drink and that should keep him happy."**

"So, you're saying that if we spend a couple of bucks on his drinks occasionally, then he would pay for us if we go poor?" Roland asked uncertainly.

" **He will… it would be for the best that you catch up to them as they have decided to go on without you."**

The Vault Hunters turned around to see that the robot was leading the other two and the Skag away. They quickly ran to catch up.

As they caught up they saw the robot gesture dramatically towards a metal pole with red glowing lights in it.

"Step right up! This is the New-U station. When you use this device, your DNA profile is automatically identified and stored. Please activate the New-U station now."

The Vault Hunters looked at the New-U station suspiciously before Ichigo walked towards it and suddenly the red lights turned green.

He pressed a couple of buttons on it and everyone else watched amazed at the fact that his clothing and hair were changing colours. He pressed some more buttons and turned everything back to its normal colour.

'I feel like I've seen this design somewhere. I just can't seem to put my finger on it.' Thought Ichigo.

To ease the mind of what he considers his new friends, Ichigo told them. "It's used for customising how you look, pretty much."

The simplifying of what Claptrap said did indeed ease their minds, but they felt like he wasn't telling them everything.

Deciding to just go with the flow, they each walked towards the New-U station, taking turns getting the DNA profile identified and stored. Though they each decided to keep their own colour scheme.

"All right, now that you have successfully registered your DNA into the New-U station, it will automatically activate whenever you come across another station. Now we can head into the peaceful town of Fyrestone! I'll lead the way."

Claptrap led them to a closed off gate and started to input the code to open the gate when the sound of vehicles approaching reached their ears. Somehow Claptrap was able to show his fear without a face.

"Wait… is that? ...oh no, not again! Ruuuuuuunnnnnnn!" the little unit ran and hid inside a metal box, sliding another piece of metal to hide himself.

Everyone else watched as a bunch of vehicles jumped over the gate. One of them continued to do donuts before driving off.

Claptrap came out of his hiding spot, looking around nervously.

"Are… are they gone? Whew! Those bandits really have it in for us Claptraps. Using us as target practice is not part of our programming!" he started working on the gate again. "Aannnnnddd… open!

The gate slid apart and everyone continued through it cautiously, except for Ichigo and Chad, who were fighting each other by tugging on Ichigo's hat.

Claptrap hit his head, even though he was the smallest in the group and Brick chuckled.

Suddenly they were fired upon by three bandits, causing claptrap to run. The Vault hunters quickly got behind cover while Ichigo just stood there with Mikasa using her weapon as a shield to block any bullets aimed in their direction.

The hunters, using their weapons, quickly pushed back against the bandits until they killed all the ones in the immediate area.

They all moved forward and heard a bandit yelling out.

"Hey, you in there! Open the door! We need your woman to come out and… give us a hand! -'Hehehe'- You really don't want me to come back with Nine-Toes. Open the Door!"

Mordecai blew his head off with a quick headshot, causing more bandits to come out and Claptrap to panic even more.

"I don't like this… this is making me nervous. Take a deep breath- I can't breathe! This is just a recording of somebody breathing. It's not real! It's making me more nervous!

Before the Vault Hunters could do anything, Mikasa turned her weapon and held it without it changing and then jammed her fingers into its side. The weapon, without the barrel extended out, fired like a normal assault rifle. Though its bullets easily tore through the bandits and gave a reason for nobody to mess with her.

Ichigo chuckled before calling out, "BOOM! Headshot!"

They all looked at him.

"What? It was for Mordecai. I was just late calling it out."

Claptrap rolled towards a red chest calling over to them.

"You should open this storage device. There may be something inside to help against those bandits"

Roland was the one to hit the button, opening it. Inside it held pistol ammo and two guns, a Torgue RF Repeater and a Hyperion BLR swatter. Since Lilith already had a pistol and it had a small scope on it, Mordecai took the BLR Swatter. They thought about just leaving the other weapon until Ichigo walked over, grabbed it and slipped it under his coat. He spoke with a calm smile on his face.

"If you find any weapons or items that you don't need or want, just hand them over to me and I'll probably sell them and give you ninety percent of the profit. Never know when you're going to need the extra space."

The others agreed, seeing as what he said was true. You never did know when extra you would need the extra space.

As Mordecai was looking at his new pistol, Claptrap spoke.

"Wow! That looks like it could do some damage! Okay, let's get this gate open."

As Claptrap was trying to open the door, he noticed something was wrong

"These controls seem to be damaged. Have no fear. I'm sure I can do it!" it was still causing problems, making Claptrap decide hitting it would be better. "Arrgh! This isn't working!"

"Quick! This way!" Claptrap started to roll towards a part of the fence that led in another direction, only for a part of it to slide out of the way. But luckily it was bigger enough for Brick when he crouched.

The Vault Hunters were about to follow, only to notice Ichigo and Mikasa weren't following.

"Aren't you guys coming?" Lilith asked.

Ichigo looked towards them with a smirk on his face.

"You guys go on ahead. I'll see if I can get this door open." He told them.

"Oh… okay. What about you?" Lilith then asked Mikasa.

"No." was her curt reply.

The others quickly went through the open fence and when it sealed itself shut he dropped his smirk and a serious look replaced it.

"Okay, let's do this!" he spoke as he grabbed the gate and with little resistance, for him, slid the gate open easily.

As it opened the bandits inside turned in surprise at what they locked being opened without any trouble.

Mikasa stayed where she was as Ichigo took a couple of steps forward, his serious face giving way to a playful smile.

"Hiya boys, you wouldn't happen to have seen any Vault Hunters yet, would ya?" Ichigo asked.

He was a little surprised that they shook their heads but chopped it up to them still being in shock at how easily he opened the gate.

"Good, good. I guess they won't have to deal with any of you then." He said, and the bandits all felt a shiver run down their spines.

One of them was able to sum it up in the most simple of words.

"We are so fucked."

 **XXXXX**

The Vault Hunters followed Claptrap through the hole in the fence, leaving the shopkeeper and his apprentice behind to try and open the door.

Claptrap led them through a scrapyard of sorts, where the group found a surprising couple of hundred bucks.

As they went to another area, they heard some more bandits, causing Claptrap to run and cower in a corner.

"No, no, that's enough! That's enough! I swear I'll never do it again- hopefully… No, no more!" he spoke hysterically.

Roland killed the rest of the bandits.

"Man… did ya hafta kill them all?" Brick asked with a pout that did not fit on his face.

Roland looked at Brick and told him, "They're dead. Move on."

Brick was about to argue back, but Lilith's hands on their chests stopped them.

"That's enough boys… damn Roland, what are you made of?" Lilith asked.

"Uhhh…"

Before Roland could say anything to Lilith's horrible attempts at flirting, Mordecai spoke.

"Isn't it a little too quiet? Aren't we right next to Fyrestone?" the others noticed this as well and made their way towards the back entrance to the small town, almost leaving the robot who caught up to them.

Before they could answer, the Guardian Angel showed up on their HUD display.

 **I knew you were the right choice, friend. Now go. I'll contact you again.**

"Wait!" Lilith said to what they believe to be an AI.

 **Yes?**

"Why did you pick us?"

 **I cannot tell you right at this moment but I can tell you that the true start to your journey begins here in Fyrestone.**

"You spoke as if you knew Ichigo." Mordecai said. "Do you?"

 **I… barely know anything of him.**

"What does that mean and that didn't answer his question." Roland told her.

 **I'll contact you at a later time.**

And with that, she cut communication.

"Might as well move one." Lilith spoke.

They decided to continue and enter the town, ready for the bandits inside, only to find around nine or ten dead bodies. They couldn't get an accurate count as all of the bodies were in pieces.

They heard the yapping of a Skag and turned to see Ichigo sitting on a chair, holding a ball as Chad tried get it off him. He let go of the ball once he saw them enter, allowing Chad to get the ball and eat it, and spoke to them.

"Hey guys, glad you could make it. You took your time, you know. Must have had a long conversation, right? Anyway, if you're looking for Mikasa, she's in that sorry excuse for a watchtower." He jabbed his thumb in the direction of the watchtower, which was only as tall as a two story building.

They looked and saw Mikasa, who was looking right back at them and gave a wave, which they returned somewhat awkwardly.

"So…" Mordecai started, "You did all this?"

Ichigo looked at the corpses before chuckling.

"No, I didn't do them, Mikasa did with her blades. I did the one on the water tower." He pointed at the town's empty water tower.

The Vault Hunters followed his direction and saw a bandit impaled through the chest with a metal pole into the water tower.

Brick looked impressed. "Damn. That is awesome."

"Thank you."

Before they could continue, Claptrap spoke to a civillian in a building.

"Attention citizen of Fyrestone! There is no cause for alarm. The new visitors have resolved the problem!"

"This is a small town." Lilith said.

Ichigo looked at her before telling her, "There's only one person living in Fyrestone."

"Really!?"

"Yep."

A voice came over the intercom, "Well shoot, I thought I was a goner that time! Damn bandits won't leave us alone. Had to lock the place up tight. I'll let ya in… Come on! Damn it. Blasted circuits are on the fritz again. Give it a go from the switch out there, would ya?"

Ichigo walked to the switch and tried it. It didn't work. He took a closer look and saw that a wire wasn't properly connected. Fixing it, he tried again. This time it worked.

They watched as a garage door of sorts opened, revealing a man wielding a bandit saw-axe, which he raised and then swung down at a dead body, spraying blood at himself.

They all watched this, only being distracted by Ichigo's voice.

"His name's Zed." They looked to see him holding a small rectangular piece of metal with glass on one side. He was swiping his thumb on the glass before continuing, "He also doesn't have a doctor's license anymore. Would probably be best not to go to him for medical help."

They all agreed with what Ichigo said and walked to the not licensed anymore doctor.

"Thanks fer openin' her up again. Name's Zed. They don't let me cut on folks anymore since I lost my license, so now I keep the med vendors 'round here up and runnin'. From the vendors you can buy all the healin' you could ever want from a real doc… thankfully without a 'the-vault-is-a-myth,-you'll-get-yourself-killed' lecture."

He looked towards the Vault Hunters before speaking, "I'll give you a couple hundred bucks to kill a couple of Skags that are just outside of town."

The group looked towards Chad, who had decided that he had enough exercise today and had laid down to take a nap. They then looked to Ichigo who gave them a look that said, 'don't even think about it'.

They started to walk in the direction of the exit of the town but stopped when they noticed that Ichigo hadn't come with them. Looking back they saw that he was still looking at the strange device with a strange look on his face.

Mikasa jumped down from her perch and walked past him towards the group as Claptrap joined her. They arrived at the group who looked at them with confused looks.

"What's that thing he's got?" Mordecai asked.

Mikasa sighed before speaking, "That is a mobile phone. And before you ask what it is, it is like the ECHO device as it can be used for communication. He uses that as it is safer and more encrypted than the ECHO device. He can also play games on it."

 **XXXXX**

On another part of the planet of Pandora, Commandant Steele of the Crimson Lance was pacing in her office, talking to herself.

"Damn it! What the hell is he doing here on Pandora? Did he follow me? But it was just one night! Did he come here for that?" she asked herself, looking at something hanging on her wall.

There were two bone white cases on the wall without a single scratch on them even though she had tried many different ways to open them without any luck, resulting in her giving up. The larger one was almost as big as she was, while the smaller one was as big as her torso.

"I really hope you don't get in my way. I'm opening that vault." She sighed before speaking in a more sombre tone.

"I need to find out more about my kind."

She picked up a note that had her name on it before continuing, "Though seeing you may actually be for the best."

 **XXXXX**

"Hey guys," Ichigo called out to the Vault Hunters. "I'm gonna go get some information about the area and the people. Mikasa? Can you stay with them?"

"Yeah."

"Thanks, and you all be safe now, alright?" With that Ichigo walked away.

 **EXTRA**

Commandant Steele was sitting by herself in a bar when someone walked up to her and spoke.

"You look like you could use a drink?" he asked.

"I don't drink." She replied.

"Well… maybe you could use some company?" he asked.

Steele sighed, "Yeah I could."

He sat down across from her and waived down a passing staff member and ordered a scotch for himself and a glass of water for her. The staff member complied with his order, even though they weren't waiters. It confused Steele a bit.

"I helped fund the guy that made this place. He owes me." The stranger told her.

They sat in silence as they waited for their drinks. When the staff member returned with the drinks, receiving a thank you from the man, he took a sip and broke the silence.

"My name's Ichigo. Ichigo Kurosaki" he told her.

"Steele."

"Nice name. Sounds tough." Ichigo told her.

"Hm."

"You are a great conversationalist."

"Shut up."

"… Want to come back to my place?" he asked her.

Steele contemplated for a moment before nodding. They both got up and left for his place.

It was the next morning, when Steele woke up naked next to Ichigo, who had hogged all the sheets that she got up and went to his bathroom. Upon finishing her business, she came out and collected all her clothes before putting them back on.

As she left his room, making sure that she opened and closed the door quietly, she didn't see a young teen come out of another room a couple of metres down the hall. Both didn't see the other until they walked into each other.

"Oof!"

"Owch."

Steele looked at the young teen and asked, "Who the hell are you?"

"I'm Mikasa and I am Ichigo's assistant for his shop. And you?"

"I'm Steele, a member of a certain army." She didn't want to tell a total stranger about herself.

"I see. Ichigo sleeps very deeply, so he won't be up for a while. I'll make us some breakfast." She told her.

They went down stairs and as she said, Mikasa made both of them some breakfast of bacon and eggs on toast.

Steeled enjoyed the meal greatly.

Mikasa after writing a note and taking it upstairs, most likely to leave it for Ichigo, came back down and informed Steele that she needed to get to the shop and open it. Before leaving, she grabbed the leftovers and put them in a container, which she then placed in front of Steele with a small smile on her face.

When Mikasa left, Steele waited a couple of minutes before grabbing the container and heading in the direction of the door. Before she could leave, something in the room by the exit caught her attention. Sitting the container on down on a stand next to a light, she entered the room and what she saw took her by surprise.

Inside where blades of all different shapes and sizes. She walked around the room and admired all of the weapons, until a note with her name on it caught her attention. She picked it up and read it.

 _Steele_

 _If you are reading this, then you got distracted by this room. I am currently writing this as you are getting ready for what we are about to do._

 _I noticed that your knife was in horrible condition, so I give you permission to take a couple from this room._

 _If you also want to, you can take a sword as well. Never know when you might need one._

 _If I am not awake by the time you leave, then I wish you the best of luck with whatever you do and that we can meet again in the future._

 _Maybe if it happens,_

 _A love of some form,_

 _Ichigo_

Steele folded the note and put it in her pocket before she started to grab a couple of knives that she thought would be useful. As she was looking at the swords, she noticed something hidden under a pile of them. Moving the weapons, she saw two cases of different sizes.

Thinking not much of it, she grabbed them and left the room, making sure to grab the container before exiting the building.

 **XXXXX**

[A.N.]

So I got a couple of reviews about Ichigo's personality. This is the Ichigo of the manga, meaning that he has lived quite some time if he was able to travel to planets as far away as Pandora. I've also seen that some students pick up the habits and sometimes even the personality of their teachers. Ichigo is one of them.

Don't worry though, for you will see moments of the caring old Ichigo we both know and love. Especially since this is only the second chapter. Though you can credit most of how Ichigo is acting to it being the beginning of his journey.

Also that comment that the bandit made was from the game. It confused me as the only person in Fyrestone was Zed and I am pretty certain that he is a male. I can't remember if T.K. Baha was considered a member of Fyrestone or not. If you can please tell me, though it won't really impact the story.

 **Important:**

I'd like to mention that the reviews that are the most creative will be mentioned in the next chapter and the reviewer will be able to make a suggestion that they would like to see happen and if it is in my power, I will make it possible.

Please review with constructive criticism, and if there is something you don't agree with in this story, please, and I repeat, please tell me why. Don't just say it's bad and not explain.

I would really appreciate it.


	3. Getting the shieldMad Moxxi and Ellie

**Chapter 3**

Getting the shield/Mad Moxxi and Ellie

Before I start, I would like it anyone would read the chapters and hopefully give me a better chapter title.

 **XXXXX**

 **[Guardian] has logged into chatroom**

 **[Spaceballs Lover] has joined chatroom**

 **[Guardian]: What the hell is Spaceballs?**

 **[S.L.]: Hello Angel. How are you?**

 **[Guardian]: I'm fine but can you please answer the question?**

 **[S.L.]: Rick Moranis**

 **[Guardian]: Who the hell is that?**

 **[Guardian]: You know what, never mind. Can you please tell me why you're contacting me?**

 **[S.L.]: Well, that's if you're going to tell me about the call you just had. Are you?**

 **[Guardian]: How do you know about that?**

 **[S.L.]: Really? You're asking me how I would know that you were contacting the Vault Hunters, when I was not only there in the same bus as them but I had also been the one to teach you how to hack. So I ask again, really?**

 **[Guardian]: …Sorry, I… I had forgotten about all that**

 **[S.L.]: That's ok, but can you tell me why you are doing this?**

 **[Guardian]: I… I… I can't say, sorry**

 **[S.L.]: Ok, well just promise me that you won't get them killed**

 **[Guardian]: …I promise**

 **[S.L.]: …something's come up. I'm going to go now, bye**

 **[Guardian]: Ok… um… oh! Ichigo?**

 **[S.L.]: Yeah?**

 **[Guardian]: Thank you. Thank you for everything**

 **[S.L.]: …**

 **[Guardian]: Yeah, I understand. Thanks for everything that you have done**

 **[Guardian] has logged out**

 **[S.L.]: … Your welcome, Kiddo**

 **[Spaceballs Lover] has left the chatroom**

 **[Handsome]: They should really chat over more secure channels. What do you think?**

 **[Reiō]: That he knew that we were on here with them**

 **[Handsome]: And what gives you that idea?**

 **[Reiō]: He refrained from talking about anything**

 **[Handsome]: Shit! Angel's at the door. We'll talk later, especially about me buying that diamond pony off of you**

 **[Reiō]: I told you, I'm not selling to some low level engineer**

 **[Handsome]: Fine, we'll talk when I'm the boss**

 **[Handsome] has left the chatroom**

 **[Reiō]: Moron**

 **XXXXX**

"Hey guys," Ichigo called out to the Vault Hunters. "I'm gonna go get some information about the area and the people. Mikasa? Can you stay with them?"

"Yeah."

"Thanks, and you all be safe now, alright?" With that Ichigo walked away.

 **XXXXX**

"Does he usually decide to just walk away?" Mordecai asked Mikasa.

"Yeah… he does that sometimes… no, he does it all the time." Mikasa said. After a moment, she suddenly let out a small chuckle, surprising the others. They looked at her with confusion.

"What is it?" Roland asked.

Mikasa raised her hand and pointed. They followed her finger and saw that Chad was looking around in confusion.

"He left Chad." She simply stated with a small humorous smile on her face.

 **XXXXX**

On another part of Pandora, this area called the Dust, resided the mechanic Ellie. She was currently having an argument with her mother, Moxxi.

"Ah don't care that ah'm a big woman Moxxi, I don't need ta be all slim like most of ya'll women who believe skinny is better." She told Moxxi, who had an annoyed look on her face.

"Sugar, you need to understand that it is not healthy being as big as you are. Really all you need to do is lose a couple of pounds and put some make up on your face to pretty you up and you'll have all the men you want." She told her daughter, thinking that she would agree with her.

"And I told ya that I don't want to change. I like the way ah am and have no plans to change that. Now if you are done, leave now." Ellie told her move, pointing to the fast travel station that was just outside of her shop.

Moxxi let out a groan of frustration, turned and stomped angrily towards the station, but was stopped as a voice called out to her.

"I wouldn't use that thing if I were you. It's dangerous."

Moxxi and Ellie turned towards the entrance where the voice was coming from and saw a man that they hadn't seen before.

Before they could ask anything, Moxxi's ECHO device went off. She picked it up and answered.

"Yes Sugar? Moxxi speaking.

 _Moxxi, my love. So good of you to finally answer my call._ Moxxi was expecting many people to call her. Her workers at the Underdome, Scooter, the workers repairing her bar and even some of her old lovers, hoping to get back with her, but she was not expecting her third husband, Marcus to call.

"What do you want Marcus?" she asked with hostility in her voice.

 _Are you still angry about the divorce love?_ He asked with humour in his voice

"You left me, remember?" she said in an angry tone of voice.

"Pa! is zat you?" Ellie asked.

 _My little pumpkin! How are you?_

"Ah'm doin' good Pa. what're ya callin' Moxxi for?" she asked her father.

 _Ah that's right! Moxxi, I need you to listen out for information on someone for me._ He told his ex-wife.

"And why should I do that?" she asked back.

 _Well… if you don't want certain things to end up on the ECHOnet, you'll do this for me._ He told her.

A nervous sweat began to slightly cover Moxxi's makeup covered forehead.

'He wouldn't dare. He told me that he deleted it. He did delete it, didn't he?' she thought worriedly.

"Fine!" she exclaimed before continuing, "What do you need?"

 _As I said. I just need you to keep an ear out for information about a certain person._

"And what does this person look like?" she asked.

 _Well… he's wearing black and white clothes, wooden sandals, a coat, wears a bucket hat on his head and he has orange hair._ As Marcus described the man he wanted Moxxi to gather information on, she and Ellie noticed that the man that was with them was now kneeling in front of the fast travel station, with a toolbox open next to him.

Upon closer inspection, both noticed that he fit Marcus' description perfectly.

 _So… will you keep an ear out for me?_ Marcus asked impatiently.

"Yeah, sure… whatever you say." She spoke absent-mindedly. She hung up before Marcus could say anything else and walked over to the stranger, tapping him on the shoulder to get his attention.

"Excuse me Sugar, but what are you doing?" she asked him.

The man stood up, taking his hat off of his head, he wiped his arm across his forehead, getting rid of the sweat building up there.

He spoke with a kind smile gracing his face.

"I'm just fixing this fast travel station, sexy." He told her.

"The name's Moxxi, not sexy." She told him.

"And mine isn't Sugar. It's Ichigo. Ichigo Kurosaki." Ichigo told her, holding his hand out for a friendly shake.

Moxxi shook his hand with her usual fake smile that she used on anyone that she wasn't close with. Ellie walked over to the two, gaining Ichigo's attention.

"And who is this lovely lady?" he asked taking her hand and kissing the back of it.

"Well ain't you a gentleman." Ellie said with a giggle.

A surprised look overcame Ichigo's face as he quickly smacked his palm into his face.

"I am an idiot." He told them. "I forgot to do this."

He quickly grabbed Moxxi's hand, gentle yet firmly and brought the back of it to his lips.

"Charmed to meet you." He told her.

If it wasn't for the heavy make-up on her face, he would have seen the blush that lit up Moxxi's face.

"Anyway, back to what I was doing. I was fixing the Fast Travel Station and hopefully the other ones on Pandora."

"Ah wasn' aware tha' the stations were damaged." Ellie told him.

"Oh! They're not damaged." He replied.

"Then why are you 'fixing them' then?" Ellie asked with quotation marks.

Ichigo looked contemplative for a moment before responding.

"Well the technology used to transport someone is advanced. The stations themselves were made quite shoddy, so I thought about fixing them in a sense. I would rather people travel without missing a body part on arrival." He told them with a little smile playing on his lips.

Moxxi had a bead of sweat run down her neck at the thought that she could easily have lost body parts when she travelled.

"Well then, I guess I owe you a thank you, don't I?" she asked the man.

"How 'bout dinner instead?" Ichigo asked her back.

"Hmm… well Sugar, you got yourself a deal." She held out her hand for a handshake, but instead he brought her hand to his lips and left a light kiss there.

"Well, how about we meet up here about four hours?" he asked her.

"Sure, that sounds nice." And with that she used the 'fixed' travel station and left her daughters shop.

"Your mother has a nice ass." He told Ellie, who looked surprised.

"How'd ya know that Moxxi was me mother?" she asked in confusion.

He gave her a smirk. "Because you both have the same beauty."

"Oh, ya'll jus' tryin' ta make me blush." She told him with a wave of the hand.

"You wouldn't happen to know more about her would you?" he asked her.

"Well… Moxxi is commonly known as Mad Moxxi and she's a swf looking 4 str."

"A what now?"

"A single white female looking for short-term relationship." She explained.

"…short-term just won't do." He spoke under his breath.

"Pardon?"

"I don't think that a short-term relationship will do." He told her.

"Moxxi's in her late fifties and has had three husbands already and four children, two of which are dead and the other two are in their thirties. That guy ya heard on her ECHO was me pops, Marcus. Me brother's pa is that inbred piece o' shit, Jimbo. She didn' want ta be married ta him but they musta slipped somethin' in her drink, cause a week later they found out she was pregnant wit' me brother."

"Really!? I met that guy on a bus and for a woman of almost sixty years of age, she looks mighty fine. Anything else?"

"We used to be a part of the Hodunk clan, who run the speedway over them sand dunes, but Ma took me an' Scooter out of there when they decided I was to be the clan wife."

"Want me to kill them?" Ichigo asked casually.

"Nah, ahma come up wit' a plan of me own." She told him

"Okay… I better get going. There's something I've got to do before my date later." He told her as he started walking out the front of her shop.

"Good luck out there… oh Mister?" she called out, getting Ichigo's attention.

"Yes?"

"If ya break me Ma's heart…" she trailed off as she pulled the switch of her vehicle crusher, "I'll put yer ball in here wit' them still attached."

She watched as Ichigo's face went ghost white as the machine crushed three vehicles piled on top of each other without any strain at all.

"Will do!" he called out quickly and ran away.

After he got out of her sight, Ichigo lowered his hands and covered his family jewels and swore to himself not to piss the big woman off.

"Time to get going." He spoke to himself before disappearing with just a whoosh of the wind to tell anyone that he had been there.

 **XXXXX**

The Vault Hunters and Mikasa returned to Dr Zed to turn in the mission he had given them. It was just a simple job of killing five Skags, but before that could happen, Nine-Toes' men had shown up and damaged Claptrap. They killed the men quickly without Mikasa's help, then after a call from Angel, they fixed the tiny robot and then proceeded to kill a nest of Skags.

The no longer licensed doctor looked up at them and they could tell that he was smiling even though he was wearing a mask. He handed them the cash, which they split up and they noticed that at the bottom of their vision, the Exp bar slid past the halfway point.

"I guess those Skags didn't give you much trouble, eh? You clearly know how to handle a gun. That's good, real good. You're gonna need it, 'cause I've got somethin' else for you to help me with."

"What've you got?" Lilith asked, placing a hand on her hip.

"I need one or two of you to obtain a power coupling, repair the med vendor, and buy a shield." He told them.

The Hunters looked between themselves, trying to figure out who would be best to do the job. Mikasa coughed, getting their attention.

"To make things easier, since I have control of Ichigo's money, I'll pay the members of your group that don't do the job the same amount as the others get. I don't know if you have knowledge of this but Ichigo helped work on the ECHO device, mainly on the experience point system. If Claptrap didn't explain it clearly, each time you level up, the ECHO releases a certain kind of pulse that stimulates everything in your body, strengthening and enhancing it a small bit. To keep it from killing you, there is a max level of 69."

It was expected that one of the guys would have laughed at that, but Mikasa was surprised that it was Lilith who laughed.

"Ha, sixty-nine." The others looked at her. "What?"

"Anyway, it doesn't matter who goes on what job, you'll get paid either way, but if you all would hand me your ECHO devices, I can upgrade them to be connected to each other." She told them, holding her hand out.

They each unhooked their devices from their pants and placed them in Mikasa's hand, only to watch as each one disappeared into data.

"What did you just do?" Roland asked with a serious expression on his face.

"I just sent them to Ichigo, as I don't have the tools with me right now." She told him before gesturing to Chad. "Brick, can you stay and play with the Skag?"

Brick gained a happy expression on his face.

"Hell yeah!" he then moved to the Skag.

Following the big guy with her eyes, Mikasa turned back to the others, pointing at Lilith and Roland.

"You two can do the job while I repair Mordecai's rifle. It got slightly damaged, so I'll send Ichigo a message asking for some repair tools."

Lilith nodded grabbing Roland's arm and dragging him with her out of the small town.

"Come on muscles, let's go get us a power coupling." She said happily.

"UH… sure." He responded.

Mikasa pulled out her phone and sent her boss a message. Putting the phone away, she turned towards Mordecai and nodded her head towards a couple of open seats before walking over and sitting down on one.

 **XXXXX**

As they headed to the damaged vendor to grab the power coupling needed to power Dr Zed's med vendor, Lilith was in deep thought.

'Why am I interested in this man? Oh please don't tell me my type is the dark and brooding type. Well at least he doesn't have a duck ass hairstyle. I guess I'll just wait and see how things turn out through our journey.' She was brought out of her thoughts by Roland asking her a question.

"What do you think of Ichigo Kurosaki?"

"Kuro-who-now?"

"Kurosaki. The man that Mikasa works for." He explained.

Gaining a thoughtful expression, Lilith rubbed her chin before speaking.

"I don't like how he is trying to hide who he is but… I guess it isn't our place to know. If he wants to tell us, he'll tell us." She replied as she noticed the vendor laying on its back. "Seems we've found what we're looking for."

She ran towards the machine, leaving Roland behind and not seeing the Skags coming out of their nest. Roland, seeing this raised his rifle and held the trigger down, spraying the Skags with a hail of bullets and scaring the crap out of Lilith in the process.

"What the fuck!?" she screamed out, turning and seeing a bunch of dead Skags.

Roland walked over to her. "You okay?"

"Y-yeah, thanks." She thanked him nervously.

They both didn't notice another Skag sneaking up on them until a gun shot rang out and the two Vault Hunters turned to see the bloody remains of a Skag sprayed across the ground. Looking to where the shot came from, the two saw up on a cliff at least one-hundred metres away, stood Mikasa. She gave them a nod and headed back to the town.

"I wonder why she was up there." Spoke Roland, before he walked over to the machine and grabbed the power coupling and walked past Lilith. "In the end it doesn't matter though. She most likely won't tell us anyway."

"Hey, wait up!" Lilith called out, running to catch up to the soldier.

When they got back to the town, they were treated to a strange. Mordecai was hanging by his ankle on a wire from the water tower and Brick was buried up to his neck in the ground with Chad running circles around his head while Mikasa and Dr Zed were both looking at a book which was most likely a medical book.

"Umm… guys… what the… fuck is this?" Lilith asked, voice full of confusion.

Mikasa looked up from the book and gave them a blank stare.

"Ichigo showed up and said he was bored." She told them as if it would explain everything and returned her attention back to the book.

"You know what? I don't care. Let's just help them." She instructed Roland to dig Brick out of the ground while she helped Mordecai down.

"Thanks Lilith. That was completely random." He told her while rubbing his back.

"Yeah, well, let's just get some shields okay?" she asked, receiving a nod.

They both turned and saw that Roland was having trouble lifting Brick out of the ground. Deciding to help him, they walked over and grabbed a part the over-sized man and hefted him with some strain to their muscles out of the hole he was kept in.

With his feet planted on the ground, Brick let out a hearty laugh before clapping Mordecai and Roland on their backs, almost knocking them to the ground.

"Thanks guys!" he practically shouted.

They headed over to the unpowered vendor and Lilith brought out the power coupling and inserted it, powering the machine up. One-by-one they got the TDR-OBS STANDARD SHIELD. Upon connecting them to their persons, the initialising of the shield display module showed up on their vision.

"Thanks for the help. You oughta use the machine to sell some things you don't need and buy First Aid Kits to use on the field." Dr Zed told them.

Mikasa coughed, getting their attention.

"Don't bother buying any first aids." At their looks of confusion, she continued. "I'll buy them and hold onto them until you need them in battle."

"Okay, that sounds good to me. Less to hold onto." Spoke Lilith.

"Let's just hand in the mission."

They headed to Zed and he gave them one of his mask smiles.

"See? You don't need a PhD to do my job. I guess people just feel more comfortable with my honest face and bedside manner. Feel free to sell your items at the med vendor and buy some first Aid Kits for later." The last bit was directed to Mikasa.

"I need a job for only myself." Mikasa told him.

The others were confused as to why she wanted a solo job, but gave up as they believed she wouldn't tell them.

"Well… I do need help blinding Nine-Toes. He placed a few men at a small outpost outside of town, across the road and west. Those men report every move we make, so our next move should be to make them dead."

As Mikasa started to head out of town, her phone buzzed. Taking it out and she noticed that someone was contacting the Vault Hunters. Using an app that Ichigo made and installed onto her phone only, she activated it and using the skills that Ichigo taught her, listened in to the conversation.

 **People don't yet trust you. If you're going to ever find the Vault, you'll need the aid of the people. Helping Doctor Zed with his Nine-Toes problem will be a good idea. Let Ichigo Kurosaki's assistant deal with Nine-Toes' men, but when she's done with that, you should start helping.**

 _What do you know about her?_

'Now why do you want to know about me Roland?' Mikasa thought.

 **Mikasa Ackerman is from a planet that has beings known as Titans. Trust me when I say this, having Miss Ackerman as an ally is something you want to keep. Try not to make an enemy out of her as she has the power to kill you without any trouble.**

And with that the communication was cut and Mikasa exited out of the app, glad that this mysterious woman hadn't given anything about her away.

"What do you want Ichigo?" she asked as suddenly her boss appeared right next to her.

Giving her a small smile, he replied, "I've got a date in a couple of hours."

"Good for you. Who's the lucky man?" she asked with a smirk.

"His name's Oleg and he's half German, half Irish and has a very… very nice ass." Ichigo answered with a serious expression on his face.

It didn't last long as they both shared a laugh.

"Anything else?" she asked, knowing that he didn't just show up to tell her that, as he could have just told her back at the town. No, this was something he needed to tell her when she was alone.

"I want you to keep an ear and an eye out on what Angel has been doing."

"I'm going to guess that Angel was the woman contacting our new friends, correct?" she asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Correct! But do be careful because like you, I taught Angel how to hack." He informed her.

"I see. Do you plan on taking her as your student again?"

"I never said she was my student. I said I taught her how to hack. And besides, she's no woman. She's still a kid." He told her.

"Everyone's a kid to you dumbass."

"True… but she's like the daughter I always wished I had."

"What about me?" Mikasa asked worriedly.

"You… you are… closer to me than that."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I don't call you kiddo do I?" he asked with a slight smirk.

Mikasa thought about it for a moment and shook her head in reply.

"Now that you understand, I gotta go get ready for me date."

"Seriously, who's the lucky lady?"

"She goes by the name Mad Moxxi. I found out some more information about her from her daughter, but I think she wouldn't be happy with me telling people about her past. That and the threat to my manhood is keeping me quiet, so… good luck with your job." As he said that, he disappeared without leaving a trace.

Mikasa shook her head in exasperation and continued to the bandit outpost. As she entered, a bandit noticed her and called to the others.

"Lookit what we have here? A little missy looking lost to me. Do ya need some help girl?" he asked with a leer on his face.

The other bandits came out of the shacks and where they were patrolling to see who the new person was.

"I have no need for your help… but your death would do me nicely." She told him with no expression on her face.

"My death?" the bandits started laughing at what the girl had said.

They each readied their weapons and aimed them at her.

"You really shouldn't have said that." Ichigo called out from the entrance to the outpost.

"Who the hell are you?" one of the bandits asked him with his shotgun aimed at the new arrival.

"Oh, me?" he asked, pointing at himself. Receiving a nod from the bandit he continued. "I'm her boss. But don't worry, even if you kill her I won't try and kill you. She needs to be able to look after herself on this lovely planet."

"So… we kill her, you do nothing?" the same one asked.

"Yep!" he answered cheerfully.

"Come on boys, let's kill her." He told the rest, turning his weapon to face her and pulled the trigger.

Before he could react, a blade found itself stabbing into the bandit's head.

'One down, seven to go.' Thought Ichigo.

Using her Vertical Maneuvering Equipment (VME), she shot one arrow at the bandit's head, retrieving her blade and the other at his shotgun.

Catching the weapon, she turned to the nearest bandit, who stood next to another and pulled the trigger, hitting both in their chests, killing them.

' _That's three.'_

She turned towards another and saw that he had picked up some scrap metal and was using it as a shield. Shaking her head, she threw the shotgun aside and pulled out her own personal weapon. She would have killed the rest of the bandits easily if it wasn't for the fact that she did not have her special weapon on her persons.

"What!?" she exclaimed. Looking at Ichigo, she saw him waving to her with the weapon.

"Thought I'd make it more interesting." He called out to her.

'You fucking dick!' she thought before dodging fire from a bandit's assault rifle.

Quickly picking up the shotgun, she took aim at a shock barrel next to the bandit with a shield and fired.

The barrel released electricity, shocking the bandit with the shield and another that was stupid enough to run past it. Both died screaming in pain, leaving three left.

'Why are bandits so stupid? I swear I would destroy this entire outpost if-' the shock barrel exploding stopped him from continuing that thought. Though the explosion did kill another.

The last two looked at each other and before they looked back at her, Mikasa fired two shots, one at each of them. They both fell dead.

Clapping caught Mikasa's attention, who turned around and had to quickly catch her prized weapon with both hand, dropping the shotgun on the ground, causing it to fire and hit Ichigo where it counts.

Doubling over with his hands covering his crotch, Ichigo let out a grunt of pain and spoke in a voice with a higher pitch.

"Fuck! Mikasa, I need to go now… and get ready… for my… date." He spoke in-between pants. He disappeared moments later and Mikasa was sure that he wasn't coming back anytime soon.

'Well… at least he gave them back their connected ECHOs.'

 **XXXXX**

Ichigo stood in front of the vault, surrounded by the destroyed bodies of the Guardians. It annoyed him that a step only took him to the beginning of The Descent and the Guardians attacked him straight away.

Deciding to end things quickly, he pulled a black cane out of his coat, even though the size would've stood out and held it in front of himself to examine it. It stood at a metre tall, with a U-shaped handle and all along it were designs carved into the wood. Carved on one side of the handle was a name in Japanese Kanji, かぐや姫 and on the other side was the English word 'DEATH'.

Looking at the word, he released a chuckle.

"Death… perfect for the situation." Pulling the handle, it showed that the cane also held a blade within it. Placing the sheath on the ground so that it stood up straight, he held the blade at his side with a loose grip on the handle.

"I won't let this fall down, so come at me."

The Guardians made strange noises of communication to each other before turning back to the shopkeeper and raising their weapons, ready to kill the intruder.

A psychotic and bloodthirsty smile took over his face as he whispered his next words.

"You are not going to survive our meeting. Let us begin the slaughter… Kaguyahime (Moon Princess)."

He had quickly dispatched of the Guardians in the area, grabbed his sheath and headed to the Eridian Promontory, moving too fast for any other Guardians to notice him.

It was just before leaving the Eridian Promontory that he accidentally kicked a rock off of the ledge he was sneaking by on and into the head of a Guardian. It turned its head in Ichigo's direction and made a loud sound in warning to its fellow Guardians.

"Shit!" he exclaimed before jumping off the ledge and using the shoulders of the Guardian, spring-boarded himself over the Guardians that had just arrived. Landing with a roll, he started sprinting in the direction of the Vault with the Guardians hot on his tail.

'Man these guys are fast! If only I could go even faster, like… something like… shunpo… or sonido… FUCK!' the face palm that he made, sounded all around the mountain as Ichigo realised his stupidity at forgetting something so simple.

Arriving at the Vault, he stopped, turned around, flashed a smirk and swung his blade. Before any of the Guardians knew it, they suddenly started falling apart. Sheathing his blade, Ichigo faced the Vault and walked towards the dais where the key would be needed to open it.

Reaching into his top, Ichigo pulled out his phone and pressed a couple of buttons before holding it to his ear and waiting for the other person to answer.

 _Naughty, naughty._ Was the first thing that the being on the other end of the call said as they answered Ichigo's call.

"Seriously!? You're still on about that? It was one joke, one! And I was high as fuck that day, though I did learn that I would never do that shit again. Anyway, the reason I called was because I'm at the Vault right now." He told the Female sounding being on the other end.

 _Why are you at the Vault Kurosaki?_

"I… need to know what is in here." He told her.

 _You know that the Destroyer is in there._

"I know about the Destroyer. What I want to know about… is the other thing that you guys put in there." He told her with a serious tone to his voice.

 _How!?_

"I know more than I let on, but unlike the man I portray myself as, I don't have the ability to plan for so many different outcomes and I don't usually think things through. But as I said, I still know more than I let on." He said with a smirk on his face. "So are you going to tell me?"

 _What do you want to know?_

Ichigo looked at the giant Vault symbol carved into the side of the mountain as it started leaking black wisps of energy. Energy he knew very well.

"I want to know… everything."

 **EXTRA**

 **[Handsome] has left the chatroom**

 **[Reiō]: Moron… you can stop hiding now**

 **[Spaceballs Lover]: Aww, how'd you know?**

 **[Reiō]: right now I'm dead-panning you**

 **[S.L.]: ;-D. So what did he want?**

 **[Reiō]: A diamond pony, can you believe that?**

 **[S.L.]: …Yes**

 **[Reiō]: Oh… ok. Can you make one in time?**

 **[S.L.]: …Yes**

 **[Spaceballs Lover] has left the chatroom**

 **[Reiō]: Well… that was awkward**

 **[Reiō] has left the chatroom**

 **Purging all conversation from database… COMPLETE**

 **EXTRA 2**

Suddenly four ECHO devices appeared right in front of him.

"What the fuck!"

 _What is it?_

"I think Mikasa just sent me a couple of Vault Hunter's ECHO devices." He told her.

 _Mikasa?_

"Oh right, you've never met her. Well, I picked her up when she was just a child. Her planet held things called Titans, which were practically deformed giant humans. She lost all her loved ones, except for her rival, so I took the both of them, had them travel with me for a couple of years and then dropped them of on Eden-5. It was on my way to my ship that she showed and asked me to make her stronger. I decided to take her with me and the rest can wait for another time." Ichigo explained.

 _Another time?_

"Eh, it'll just be an 'extra' bit of information." He told her as he sat the phone on the ground with the speaker enabled and proceeded to do the same with his body, sitting three of the ECHOs next to him and keeping the last one on his lap.

His phone buzzed, notifying him of a message.

"Hold on, I think Mikasa just sent me a message to explain why she sent me these ECHOs." Picking up the phone, he put her on hold and read Mikasa's message.

 **Ichigo  
Need you to connect these four ECHOs  
I also need you to send 'that'  
Also some tools to repair the ECHOs and items if they are damaged  
Good luck with whatever you're doing  
Mikasa**

"Ahh, she just wanted me to connect these things." He said as he took the other off hold.

 _I'm not going to even pretend to understand what that means._

"And I'm not even going to try and explain. But you can continue telling me what I want to know."

… _Very well, it happened quite some time ago…_ **  
**

 **XXXXX**

[A.N.]

The very first thing that I'm going to mention is that I'm horrible at writing human interaction and romance and fighting. Sorry if it isn't any good.

I will mention that I put something in here that I doubt any of you will find. Good luck with finding it though.

The extras will most likely be of what Ichigo is doing while away from the others or on his or Mikasa's past.

If any of my facts about Moxxi, her kids and the Hodunk clan is wrong please tell me, but these are the basic facts I'm keeping.

 _Moxxi is in her late fifties/early sixties  
Ellie's in her late thirties and Scooter is in his early thirties  
Moxxi met Marcus while she was still in the Hodunk clan and got pregnant with Ellie  
She had her first husband, who died  
Her second husband was Jimbo, she was drugged and I'm sure you know what happened and then a week later found out she was pregnant with Scooter  
Before Ellie could be clan wife, Moxxi took her and Scooter and ran away  
Later she met Marcus, and to keep her children safe, got together with him  
When Ellie and Scooter became independent, she left Marcus_

If you have any questions about this, just ask.

It would be helpful if someone can help me with the translation for moon princess. I thought it was Tsukihime, but from what I looked at on google translate, Kaguyahime is the translation.


End file.
